Maasdam Pow'R Pull EZ Winch - Portable 1/2-Ton - 1-Ton Capacity Winch

I love the case that came with this little wench. Make sure you take a picture before you take it out so you will remember how to get it back in. The winch is light and easy to use. Not heavy duty but seems to work fine for light-duty use. The cable does get stuck behind the cable guard at times which jams the winch and you have to use your finger or a screwdriver to pry it free. I think when the winch is wound tighter from the beginning it doesn't Jam as much.

Nice little come-a-long. I have used it several times to pull my ATV out of a mud hole. The nice thing about it is that it's so compact. I took the pulley off mine and attached the cable end directly to the hook. This reduces the maximum power, but increases the speed and length of travel. I can pull out my ATV without the pulley. A few things I don't like are that the case is kind of cheap, it's hard to get the come-a-long to fit in it, and the rubberized handle slips off the metal pipe. It should be pinned in place with a screw. Overall a good, sturdy, high quality little come-a-long and I would buy it again.

I needed something to use as a backup to my winch on my Polaris Rzr. The come along had to be compact, light weight and able to move 1000lbs. I found this little gem and after contemplating I placed my order. The unit is everything I wanted. I wouldn't put it under too much stress. But I don't think it will have a problem pulling a 4wheeler or Rzr out of the mud. I wouldn't ask it to hoist one up a steep incline. But to scoot one or roll it back over, this one would be fine. Plus if you know what you're doing and can use a strap and pulley you can double the force.

Purchase this winch for snowmobile trips, just in cause someone is stuck and we needs some extra help.The other day in the backyard, open the package to move something and could not release the cable from the winch.The plate that keeps the cable tight against the spool is not wide enough and allows the cable to get stuck between the plate and spool. Of course I'm out of the return product window, so now I don't know what to do. It's a good thing I wasn't out in the back woods and stuck to find out about this defect.NOT HAPPY.....Amazon sent me a replacement winch after talking with the manufacture and Amazon customer service.The second winch has the same problem with the cable getting jamb between the spool and the plate.Took the winch apart and went to the hardware store and purchase sheet metal to make a wider plate to keep the cable aligned and tight on the spool.Problem fixed, the original plate is 0.10" to narrow and that allows the cable to get caught between the plate and the spool. The picture above shows how the cable can get caught between the plate and the spool.

Price Great. Looks the same. Has one tragic flaw. When you try to pull slack off the drum is preparation for use. 80% of the time the cable will jam up between the side of the drum and a guide bracket. This guide bracket is a good idea in principle. It is there to hold the cable near the drum so it stays in the confines of the drum when there is no tension on the cable. The problem is this guide has enough clearance between the guide and side of the drum so that when you attempt to pull slack from the drum to hook up the winch cable jams between the drum and this guide. This happens almost every time. The only way to free the cable is to grab a large screw driver and pry in out. I buy a tool to use not work on. Normally I would have returned the unit but I had a must do project. You can remove this guide but the cable will then loop out and jam between the outside the drum and winch housing. This is a pain but can be remedied each time quickly. Under load the unit works great both up and down. Everything else is great. This could be fixed with a slight modification to the guide bracket by the manufacturer.

With this small cable ratchet winch I thought I could do a "one man" load of my motorcycle up a rather short steep ramp and onto a trailer. One hand to steady the bike and one hand working the ratchet lever to crank the bike up the ramp.There is plenty of leverage (power) to pull the bike up the ramp (even vertically if you wanted), but some problems quickly became apparent during actual use:1) Using the pulley hook (gives twice the power) but there is only enough cable to pull a 5 foot distance. Not enough to get both wheels of the bike up the ramp. Disconnecting the pulley from the hook would give twice the cable (10' pull) and still probably have ample power, BUT...2) Loosening the cable to let the bike back down the ramp slowly, requires both hands to work the two awkward "un-ratchet levers." You would need a third hand to run the long crank lever and both little control levers. A fourth hand would be necessary to steady the bike down the ramp. This is a two-man job. If you've got two men you don't need a wing to load a motorcycle.3) The cable wanted to get hung up on both of the springy reel guides. Another major annoyance.This winch would get four stars if your load was self-steadying (like a car or RV) and you could devote all three of your hands to working the three levers. Two hands and a prehensile tail would work OK too I suppose.

So long as expectations are in line with price - this is a GREAT come-along!I don't know that I would use this unit to pull a car, or that I would want to be near it under anything close to its claimed rated load, but for what it costs it is well within expectations.I purchased the unit to support a large tree branch. The unit is attached to a long piece of braided cable and, for as long as the branch stays intact, permanently installed. The cable did seem like it would quite easily bind up in the roller mechanism but I didn't use mine enough times or for long enough to find out whether that really would happen.I didn't need it, but the unit comes with a case which is pretty nice for storage in a car, truck, tractor or barn. The fact that the handle disconnects is also nice, for compact storage.